Are PM's private or not?

I have to ask this question as some of my pm's from this week to and from one person have been deleted.  Why this would happen unless admin had looked through my messages I haven't a clue?
I don't know but would this go against personal data protection ?
I do hope they are private and if admin can confirm that I would appreciate it!
Maria

As far as I was aware PM's are private between you and the person you are emailing.  Can't understand however why some of your PM's have been deleted?
Maybe Admin will let you know soon x

MariaC,

You have already asked me this and had it confirmed, so I am surprised that you feel the need to raise the subject again on the forum.

1) Admin and the Moderators can not read PM's. We have neither the time or the inclination to do so :rolleyes:

2) PMs are deleted by the system after a set period of time to allow more 'space' on the forum.

3) The only other way that PM's are removed is if a member is removed from the system or if you remove them yourself.

You have the option to have all PM's emailed to you.

I strongly advise you to set your options to do this if you wish to keep PM's.

However, the Terms of Service does apply to all areas of the forum EG: Forum, Chat Facility and Private Messages.

Be mindful of this when sending PM's and realise that PM's could be forwarded to Admin/Mods if the member feels the TOS has been breached. Anyone found to be using the PM facility to spam the forum or using the facility to abuse other members/mods/admin will be removed.

There is also nothing inplace to stop members forwarding PM's to each other. Again, you need to be mindful that this is an option.